


First Bad Fight

by dameofbooks



Series: Maybe we're not just friends [2]
Category: The Rookie (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, Cheating, F/M, Fighting, Fluff, Friendship, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:40:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24259792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dameofbooks/pseuds/dameofbooks
Summary: “What happened? Are you ok?” Lucy asked to Tim when he walked towards her who was looking at him trying to find scratches or wounds.“Relax, Boot.” He said with a little smile that made Lucy calmed just a bit “It’s not mine, not all of it at least.”“Are you ok?” She asked again looking at his blue eyes.“I’m fine, I’m aching a bit, but nothing to worry about.” Tim said with his usual T.O.’s tone.“I doubt it.” She said knowing that probably he didn’t go to the hospital to be checked.“Why are you still here?” He asked changing subject.“I was kind of worried, nobody said anything about how the special assignment was going so...” Lucy said after a few seconds biting her lip “It’s not just that, I talked to Rachel...”“And we have to talk, I know.” He said finishing her thought._______OR Lucy and Tim's first bad fight.
Relationships: Tim Bradford & Lucy Chen, Tim Bradford/Lucy Chen, Tim Bradford/Rachel Hall
Series: Maybe we're not just friends [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1743043
Comments: 9
Kudos: 78





	First Bad Fight

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I'm back with something new!
> 
> I don't know if I'm 100% satisfied , but here we are...  
> So, I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> I'm @dameofbooks on tumblr if you want.

Lucy and Tim have never had a bad fight, even when Rachel and Lucy had a fight because of Rachel’s jealousy and her idea of something more than friendship between them.

A few days after Tim’s decision of rejecting the promotion in North Hollywood Rachel came uninvited to Lucy’s apartment just to accuse her and Tim to have feelings for each other.

_“So, I heard Tim held his promotion for you.” Rachel said as soon as Jackson left the apartment with Sterling._

_“Sorry, what?” Lucy asked turning to face her friend._

_“You heard me.” She replied serious._

_“Ok, I don’t know why you think this, but stop.” Lucy said quietly trying to understand what was going on “It’s not like that.”_

_“And what is it like, Lucy? Because I know he declined that offer just to train you.” Rachel’s voice was calm but through her eyes Lucy saw jealousy and anger._

_“He told me that too.” Lucy said staring at her “But I don’t understand why this… Why are you so mad?”_

_“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because he did it for someone who he said is not his friend.” Rachel’s words were harsh, and Lucy got hurt by them, but she hid it quickly. “So, tell me, Lucy, what should I think about this?”_

_“Nothing, Rachel.” Lucy was unbelievable, Rachel have never been jealous like that “It doesn’t mean nothing more than what he told you: he wants to finish his job.”_

_“We both know Tim enough to know there is always a reason for his behavior.” Rachel said crossing her arms. “And don’t even try to deny it. I’m not stupid, I know you know each other well.”_

_“You should ask him the reason.” Lucy said firmly, she was getting angry for what her friend was implying, but she was also trying to remain calm to not let the situation beaming worse. “I’m not in his head, Rachel, and yeah, I know him because we work together 12 hours a day.”_

_“Don’t play with me, Lucy.” The anger in her voice was clear as the fire in her eyes “That’s not the point.”_

_“And what’s the point? Because the only thing I see is your unreasonable jealous.” Lucy didn’t understand why her friend was overreacting. Rachel was always reasonable and quiet, the type of person you can reason with and this time she wasn’t. It was also their first fight and Lucy wasn’t sure how to manage the situation, but she wasn’t willing to stay there and let Rachel assumed something that wasn’t the truth._

_“It’s not unreasonable.” Rachel almost screamed that words “I saw you two, the way you joke, laugh and protect each other… I’m not blind, between you two there is something.”_

_“There is nothing.” Lucy replied too quickly thinking that her friend went too far “There is nothing you should worry about. We just care about each other as friend.”_

_“Yeah and I’m the one who is crazy.” Rachel said with a tone of voice full of sarcasm._

_“Yeah, in this moment you are.” Lucy said feeling the anger running through her body “I’m not trying to steal your boyfriend. I don’t care about him in that way. At the moment, Rachel, I don’t even care why you’re trying to create a problem, but whatever is the reason, stop this nonsense.”_

_“I’m not trying anything. There is a problem.” Rachel’s words made Lucy rolled her eyes._

_“You are the problem, Rachel. You and your ridiculous jealous.” Lucy was exasperated and took a deep breath to try to calm herself down before talking again “Look, Tim and I aren’t quite friends, he said to you the truth. He is my training officer, a superior, so it’s not a normal friendship. But each of us went through stuffs and these stuffs made as bond. We are closer than a T.O. and his rookie should be, I’m not denying this, but there is nothing romantic between me and Tim. We just look out for each other.”_

_Rachel stayed silent after Lucy speech, but she didn’t stop to look her friend right in the eyes._

_“Which stuff?” She asked few minutes later “And if there isn’t nothing romantic why did he do all of this for you?”_

_“You have to ask him. I’m not going to tell you his past.” Lucy said quietly “It’s not up to me to tell you about his stuffs. Don’t put me in the middle of your relationship.”_

_Rachel just nodded and after a few embarrassing minutes of silence left Lucy’s apartment._

Lucy and Rachel didn’t talk again about that fight and as far as Lucy knew Rachel had never told to Tim about it. She tried to keep space between her and Tim, at least when she knew he was with Rachel, she didn’t want to give to her friend any reason to feel jealous again.

But she felt as she failed, Rachel never replied to her apology message about her last night in LA, not even after a few weeks in New York.

* * *

After three weeks of silence Lucy tried to call her, but her friend didn’t pick up the call and never called back. Lucy tried to keep Tim out of this, she didn’t tell him about Rachel’s jealousy or about that they didn’t talk anymore, she didn’t want to be the reason of a fight between them.

“You know you owe me an explanation, right?” Tim said to Lucy a few days after her last day as a rookie.

“About what?” She asked looking at him “You should ask her not me.”

“I did.” He said looking back at her trying to study her as always “And it didn’t go well.”

“What do you mean? What she said?” Lucy wanted to know what her friend told Tim.

“Tell me first what happened between you two.” Tim said crossing his arm to the chest.

“I can’t.” She said biting her lips “Look, a part of me want to tell you what happened so badly the seconds after it happened, but I can’t be in the middle of your relationship. If she told you everything, I will do the same, but if she didn’t, I don’t think it’s up to me, Tim.”

Tim took a deep breath and nodded one time, but before he could talk his phone rang.

“Bradford.” He said taking the call “Yeah, I’ll be right there in a moment.”

“Go, we’ll talk later.” Lucy said as soon as he looked at her again and he went away.

Lucy reached her phone of her pocket to type a message to Rachel.

‘Your boyfriend asked me what happened between me and you. If you wanna update me on what you have done/said so I know how to handle this without screwing up your relationship and my friendship with him, call me asap.’

As soon as the message was sent Lucy went to finish her paperwork, hoping to hear Rachel before being able to talk with her former training officer.

As the hours passed Lucy thought that probably her friend wouldn’t have talked to her, at least not before Tim, but then she realized he was disappeared. After the call Lucy saw him in the sergeant’s office, but it was three hours ago.

When she the shift was over Tim wasn’t back yet and Lucy was worried, but kept it for herself, especially when Rachel called while she was in the locker room.

“Rachel?” Lucy said after sliding her finger on the screen of her phone.

“Lucy.” Her friend replied.

“How are you?” Despite the circumstances Lucy was happy to talk to her friend again.

“Don’t even try to act like you care.” Rachel said quietly “I’m calling just because I don’t have a choice.”

“I do care, Rachel.” Lucy said shaking her head even if no one could see her.

“Yeah, sure.” The irony in her voice was clear “Maybe I don’t care, not anymore.”

“I don’t want to fight with you.” Lucy said trying to not focus to the pain Rachel’s words caused “What happened?”

“He was telling me about your last day together, about the party and I freaked out.” Rachel said after a few seconds.

“What exactly did you say to him?” She asked, but when her friend didn’t reply she went on “Look, probably I’m the last person you want to talk to now, I get it. You hate me. But I can’t help you if I don’t know what you said to him or what you did.”

“Ok. Well, I kind of said the same thing sI said to you in your apartment.” Rachel said quietly “We didn’t talk much for days and then when we finally clarified the situation, I said that you told me that you two have history.”

“I am sorry, you did what?” Lucy said too loudly feeling the anger growing inside her “Are you crazy Rachel? I’ve never told you that.”

“I know, I mean, I actually just change your words.” Rachel said trying to justify her behavior.

“You change the meaning of my words.” Lucy said with anger “And tell me, what am I supposed to do now? Tell your boyfriend you didn’t lie to him and lose a friend, so you won’t look like a crazy person?”

“I didn’t say that.” Rachel replied quickly “I don’t know, ok? I didn’t think he would have come to you.”

“Yeah, probably you thought he would have just closed our friendship with a blindly believing in you and your words.” Lucy said harshly and when her friend didn’t deny it, she became angrier “You’re unbelievable. I thought that after all these years I knew you, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I don’t know what your problem is, Rachel, but this ends now.”

“What does it mean?” She said, worried.

“It means that I am going to tell Tim everything.” Lucy said closing hard her locker “You didn’t care about _me,_ so I do not really care about you now.”

Lucy didn’t give to Rachel the time to reply, she just ended the call, grabbed her staffs and went out to look for Tim.

* * *

Lucy found out that Tim wasn’t at the station but that he was out alone on a special assignment and she decided to wait for him, not only because they were supposed to talk, but mostly because she was worried.

When he finally came back, at 4 in the morning, he was half cover with blood and his clothes ripped.

Tim saw Lucy’s worry as soon as their eyes met, he was talking to Sergeant Grey, explaining to him what went wrong during the bust.

“What happened? Are you ok?” Lucy asked to Tim when he walked towards her who was looking at him trying to find scratches or wounds.

“Relax, _Boot_.” He said with a little smile that made Lucy calmed just a bit “It’s not mine, not all of it at least.”

“Are you ok?” She asked again looking at his blue eyes.

“I’m fine, I’m aching a bit, but nothing to worry about.” Tim said with his usual T.O.’s tone.

“I doubt it.” She said knowing that probably he didn’t go to the hospital to be checked.

“Why are you still here?” He asked changing subject.

“I was kind of worried, nobody said anything about how the special assignment was going so...” Lucy said after a few seconds biting her lip “It’s not just that, I talked to Rachel...”

“And we have to talk, I know.” He said finishing her thought “I can’t right now, I need to take a shower and to make my statement.”

“Yeah, maybe it sounds knew to you, but I know how this work is.” Lucy said joking “Go, I’ll wait.”

“Sure? It could be a long wait.” He replied meaning it, she should have gone home several hours ago “You should go home and have some rest.”

“We have to solve this as soon as possible.” Lucy said firmly “I really need to clear this.”

“Ok but try to have some sleep somewhere. I’ll find you as soon as possible.” He said looking at her, she nodded.

“I’ll be in the coffee room, probably on the couch.” She said and smiled at him before walking away.

“Lucy?” Tim called her and she turned looking back at him “Just to be clear, I don’t think you told her what she said but I need to understand why she said that.”

Lucy nodded again and started to walk again towards the room. His words made her relax, at least she knew he wasn’t mad at her.

As soon as she got into the room, she made herself a cup of coffee, usually she would have made a cup of tea, but she needed to stay awake while waiting.

The coffee was useless, all the worry about him and the situation with Rachel had left her body and a few minutes after she sat on the couch, she felt asleep.

When Lucy woke up, she had a blanket over her body and her head was on someone’s shoulder, as soon as she opened her eyes, she found out that the shoulder was Tim’s. He was fully awake looking at her.

“This is awkward.” She said with a sleepy voice “And I think a bit embarrassing.”

“We went through more awkward situations.” He said a little amused “For example the night you got drunk.”

“You mean the night you were drunk and kissed me, right?” She said joking, in his eyes she saw the mistake she made. Them both agreed to not talk ever again about that kiss. “How long have you been here? You should have woken me up.”

“A few hours.” Tim said looking at clock hanging on the wall “I know, but you were so at peace and as soon as I sat you snuggle by my side using my shoulder as a pillow and I couldn’t help but let you sleep.”

She smiled for his kindness, Tim was rarely sweet and every moment he was with her, she appreciated it.

“Thanks.” She said standing up and going towards the coffee machine to make two cups of coffee.

“You’re welcome.” He said following her with his eyes. “Look, about Rachel, I don’t think you should take it personal, I mean, is normal that she is jealous because of the distance. I don’t think she is jealous of you as Lucy I think she is jealous of you because you can spend time with me, and she can’t.”

Lucy bitten his bottom lip while filling the two cups.

“Actually, it is personal.” She said slowly turning to look at him and giving to him one cup, he was confused “I didn’t tell you anything because I didn’t want to be in the middle of your relationship, I mean I am- was friend with you both and I didn’t tell her what you told me as I didn’t told you what she told me. And at that time, you were still my training officer I didn’t want to screw up our work and our friendship.”

Tim wasn’t confused anymore, but he wasn’t even sure about what happened, so he waited for Lucy to go on.

“After you rejected the promotion, she made me a jealous scene.” Lucy said quietly holding tight her cup of coffee “I still don’t know why but she thought you didn’t accept it because between us there was something romantical.”

“I’m sorry, what?” He said shocked, but in a few seconds the shocked became anger “And what the hell is the reason why you didn’t tell me anything?”

“Because I talked to her, I explained her that she couldn’t be more wrong.” Lucy said quickly “I told her we weren’t quite friend as you told her because of the job, that we bound because each one of us went through stuffs and the other one was there to help and that whatever our relationship was it wasn’t romantic.”

“Damn, Lucy! You should have told me!” He almost yelled at her standing up from the couch.

“And betraying her? I didn’t want to lose her.” She said quickly, looking at him.

“You lost her anyway.” Tim replied coldly.

“I lost her for the phone call the last night you two slept together.” Lucy said moving her eyes to the floor.

“What’s why you said she wouldn’t have understood?” Tim asked and Lucy nodded one time, biting her lips “So she lied to me that night.”

“I think she really understood why we were on the phone, but I also think that she didn’t accept the fact that I asked you company. I could have asked to someone else.” Lucy said quietly “That’s why I didn’t want to tell you, I don’t want to be the reason of your fight.”

“You couldn’t have and even if you could, I’m glad you asked me.” Tim said laying his back on a wall “But you should have told me about her jealous.”

“I shouldn’t have and I’m pretty sure you understand why.” Lucy said looking back at him “Look, after that night everything was ok. She came to apologize and said that she was out of line, that she knew we were just friend. And because I wasn’t sure if she told me the truth, I tried not to text or call you when I knew you were with her and I swear, until that phone call in the middle of the night everything was fine.”

“It wasn’t fine.” Tim said firmly “And maybe if you had spoken, we weren’t in this mess.”

“You cannot know this. And I would never betray a friend.” Lucy replied drinking her coffee “This is not my fault.”

Tim stayed silent, but Lucy was able to read his eyes before he looked away.

“Wait, you think this is my fault, don’t you?” The silence after her words hurt Lucy, but she hid it quickly. “I can’t believe it.”

“Lucy, I –” Tim tried to say, but a wave of Lucy’s hand made him stop.

“I tried, things didn’t go as planned, and maybe I used the wrong words, but this mess is not my fault. I told her to talk to you, to ask you whatever she wanted to know but she never did. She preferred to not talk until a few days ago. It wasn’t my secret to tell, and as far as I knew it was just one episode of jealousy nothing you should have worried about.” Lucy said coldly and firmly “You know what? You want to believe that this is my fault? Go ahead, I don’t care.”

Lucy was about to leave the room when the door was opened.

“Is everything ok?” Angela asked stepping in noticing that Tim and Lucy were looking at each other with anger.

“Ask him.” And without another word Lucy left the room going to the locker room to put on her uniform.

* * *

Almost a week passed without them talking, every time they walked into the other seemed like one of them was about to speck, but at the end they just walked away.

The only ones who knew about the fight were Jackson and Angela, but everyone at the station knew that something wasn’t alright. Tim was always on a bad mood; Lucy instead was too silent.

“You two have to talk.” Angela said to Lucy one night after the shift in the locker room “He needs you, Lucy.”

“He doesn’t.” Lucy replied putting on her jeans “He made that perfectly clear.”

“He does. He is just too stubborn and too proud to admit how much he needs you.” Angela said, sitting on the nearest bench “A lot happened after your fight.”

“Like what?” She said skeptical, Lucy was sure that Angela was just trying to make her worry.

“I can’t tell you, Lucy.” Angela replied and Lucy rolled her eyes “Just go and talk to Tim.”

“I can’t go, not after what he said.” Lucy said putting on her blouse before looking at Angela who seemed really worried and serious “What happened?”

“I can’t, just ask him.” Angela repeated shaking her head.

“You want me to believe that he needs me, right? Then tell me what the hell is going on.” Lucy didn’t really need to be convinced of nothing, Angela’s look was enough, but in just a moment the anger was replaced by the worry and she needed to know what happened in that exact moment.

“Rachel…” Angela hesitated a moment before specking “She cheated on him.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Lucy asked unbelievable “Where is he now?”

“Somewhere drinking, he didn’t tell me.” Angela replied.

“Damn it. I have to find him.” Lucy said worried “Maybe he hasn’t already gone.”

“Do you want help?” Angela asked looking at Lucy while she put on her jacket and picked up her bag.

“No, I just need to track is GPS if he’s not outside.” Lucy said taking a deep breath “Thanks for telling me.”

* * *

It took her almost an hour to figure out where Tim was, his GPS indicated that he was near the ‘Old man bar’ at 12517 W Washington boulevard so she climbed in her own car and drove through the L.A. night traffic and twenty minutes later she was outside the bar.

As soon as she parked her car she checked if Tim’s was there and when she found it walked towards the bar entrance hoping he was inside.

Outside the bar there was a queue, but she decided to show the badge to the bodyguard who let her in a few seconds later.

The colorful lights and the crowd made her search more difficult, but she found a way to the counter and as soon as she caught the bartender attention, she showed him a photo of Tim.

“Did you see him?” He nodded and Lucy follow his look, she saw Tim arguing badly with some strangers “Thank you.”

She sneaked out from the people near the counter to reach Tim as soon as possible, she ignored some stranger that touched her ass, her only priority was to prevent a fight. She arrived a few steps away in the right moment, Tim was about to punch one of the guys.

“Tim!” Lucy yelled as loud as she could hoping to be heard and close the distance between them. “Let him go.”

Tim looked at her confused, her hand was on his and instinctively he let go the other man's shirt. In a few seconds she pulled herself between Tim and the stranger.

“I think you should go.” Lucy said firmly and loudly to be heard, then put out her badge “I don’t think you and your friends want to have troubles with the police, right?”

The man nodded and stepped away with his friend, Lucy followed them with her eyes to be sure they were going, then she turned over to face Tim.

“How drunk you are?” She asked looking to the few empty glasses behind him.

“What are you doing here, _Boot_?” He asked looking at her like he was shocked to see her.

“I’m here for you, Tim.” She said softly as much as she was angry for their fight, she couldn’t be mad at him in that situation.

“I don’t need you.” He said looking away.

“Too bad.” She replied taking him by his arm “Lets go taking some air.”

After putting some money on the counter, she started walking pulling Tim who for some reason decided to follow her outside the bar.

“I think I’m going home now that you ruined all the fun.” He said freeing his arm.

“I think you’re too drunk to drive.” She said quietly “And I took your keys, so I’m afraid you’re coming with me.”

Lucy started to walk across the street, she didn’t check if he was following her, but few seconds later she heard his steps behind her.

They walked silently to the beach, when they where not so far from the ocean Lucy sat on the sand waiting for him.

“What are you doing here, Lucy?” He asked after a few minutes of silence, he was sitting by her side looking at the ocean.

“I’m trying to avoid that you get punched.” She said joking, he smiled and looked at her.

“You should be mad at me.” He said holding his breath.

“I am mad at you. You don’t have idea how much I am mad at you.” Lucy said looking back at him “But I still car about you. To be honest, I care about you more than how much I am mad at you.”

Tim nodded and looked back at the sea, the sound of the waves made him relaxed.

“I’m sorry for what I’ve said.” He whispered putting his head on Lucy shoulder.

“I know.” She said with a small smile putting her hand on his knee “But it hurt.”

They weren’t this touchy usually, but them both enjoyed this new thing about their friendship.

“I was mad at her and I put it out on you.” Tim said quietly.

“It’s ok, Tim.” She said laying her head on his.

“Actually, it’s not.” He whispered “Rachel…”

“I already know. I kind of forced Angela to tell me.” She said closing her eyes.

“You asked her?” He was surprised.

“As soon as I found out that your mood wasn’t bad because of our fight, yes.” She answered looking at him “I was worried.”

“My mood was bad because of us, until this afternoon.” He asked pulling his head away from her to look at her eyes “Anyway, why did you ask? Don’t you hate me?”

“Why should I hate you?” She asked not understanding his question, she would have never hated him.

“You lost a friend because of me, I kind of insulted you and probably if it wasn’t for the alcohol I would have pushed you back tonight.” He said looking away from her.

“I don’t blame you for what happened between me and Rachel, she made her own mistakes.” Lucy said looking at him, her hand was still on his knee “And we both know you’re not drunk that much. If you didn’t want to be here with me, you would have stayed inside that bar.”

“Maybe.” He said putting his arm around her shoulders pulling her closer to him.

Lucy didn’t reply, she just shifted on the sand and rest her head on his shoulder looking at the ocean again.

“We should go, shouldn’t we?” He said without moving.

“Yeah, it’s late.” She replied staying close to him, feeling his head over hers.

“Can we stay another few minutes?” He asked whispering through her hair.

“We can stay as long as you need it.” She replied with a smile, closing her eyes to relax herself.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading folks!
> 
> So, what did you think about this insecure Rachel?  
> I mean, I feel like her fight with Lucy was a little OOC,  
> But I also think she is a bit jealous of Tim and Lucy's friendship.
> 
> Anyway, kudos and comments are appreciated!  
> See you next time. xoxo


End file.
